US sales in

[donathos]

I really fail to see what all of the arguing is about. The numbers speak pretty clearly to me:

Nintendo is doing really well right now -- way better than anyone could've predicted just a couple of years ago -- and with great releases coming up, it's unreasonable to expect them to slow down soon. The Wii is setting records with its fast pace of sales, and both it, and the DS, are bringing new gamers into the market place which cannot help but to benefit all gaming companies in the long run. It is hard to tell what impact WiiFit will actually have, at the moment, but it might seriously shake things up... that, SSBB, MKWii, WiiWare, and we haven't even gotten to E3 yet. What a year for Nintendo.

Sony struggled at first with the PS3, but it has improved sharply this year, perhaps in part due to the victory of Blu Ray. While the PS3 still must be considered a disappointment compared to its pre-launch hype and expectations, it has recovered immensely from the disaster scenario that seemed to be taking place only 6 - 8 months ago. Sony designed its hardware for a long haul, and the strategy might eventually pay off; large releases of staple series, like MSG4 and FFXIII, are likely to pull in late adopters from the PS2, and especially if grouped with another price cut. Unlikely to catch the Wii, but Sony is firing on all fronts right now with the PSP also performing steadily (hardware-wise, at least), and (most surprisingly of all) the PS2 continuing to sell strongly.

Microsoft is struggling a little bit at present, but its numbers are still good, especially for this time of year, and the large install base its early launch helped it to acquire guarantees that big releases sell well on the console. It seems to be losing ground against the PS3, and has been quickly surpassed by the Wii, but the 360 has little to complain about given what it has already accomplished and what releases like GTA4 are likely to bring. Despite the growing disparity between the install bases of the Wii and 360, Mario's ubiquity, and the fact that it was multi-platform, the fact that COD4 continues to outsell the seeming-consensus "game of the year," Mario Galaxy is... astounding.

That's it. All three companies have strengths and weaknesses, all three are doing well in the current generation, and all three will be represented in the next generation (I imagine MS first, and successfully so).

If we can agree on these points (which I think are fairly well backed up by the data), then what's left to argue about?